You probably recall what I referred to as my Mystery Box project. That was because the end use for it couldn’t be divulged as it was for marketing an item my client wanted to “keep under wraps”. Apparently there’s quite a market for this and they wanted to be one step ahead of the competition by having a beautiful presentation box. Well, things got a little more complex as to what they wanted to incorporate in it. After making a prototype I discovered that our joinery technique needed some strengthening, and after adding Brusso hardware we went over budget. Right now, believe it or not, they are gearing up for Christmas which is their busiest time for their product so they have decided it’s best to wait until after that time and consider going ahead with the project then. I hope so, it was an interesting challenge and I love those!

In the meantime, I always try to keep the philosophy of one door closes and another opens. After the failure of the initial prototype I went ahead and made another. I happened to have a piece of clear Pine that was just about the same size so decided to tune up my miter sled and add splines to the joint. Next was doing the top/bottom technique that they wanted to try on the Mystery Box. They are after a streamlined, seamless look. Since I had started this already figured might as well make a project out of it to add to the Etsy store. For that I had some Lacewood to experiment with. Here’s the result, what do you think??

I’m going to call this The Banded Box. Diane says it almost looks like a landscape with the grain of the Pine taking on the appearance of moutons above the ribbon of inlaid Lacewood. When I do something like this I like to finish the exterior with the first 3-4 coats prior to separating the box and lid. That way I can concentrate on a great oil finished exterior and shellac the interior after. Shellac is odorless where the oil finish is objectionable to some. The box will be separated on the band of Lacewood, probably about 1/3 or the way down.

The other thing completed today was gluing up the dovetailed boxes that will have a sliding, Spalted Maple lid. Just took this quick shot as I was calling it a day so it’s a bit out of focus but you get the idea. Used my standby, liquid hide glue so it’ll require a full 24 hours to cure.